Years ago we were visiting family in Virginia and in the parking lot at the trailhead, there was a massive gathering of gorgeous blue and black butterflies. (A “kaleidoscope” is the proper term. Isn’t that cool?)
My kids were delighted that if they stood still, the butterflies would flit around and land on them. Some stayed for long wondrous minutes, others for just a moment.
Have you ever had a butterfly land on you? It’s happened a handful of times to me and I always feel special for some reason, don’t you? It’s like a little bit of happiness and wonder has touched me.
Opportunities are like butterflies.
The other day I was listening to a podcast where the host was relaying a story of writer Elizabeth Gilbert. The author of Eat, Pray, Love had a quite specific plot of a fiction novel in mind that she wanted to write. The main character was an office manager for a family-owned oil company in Canada. The son set off to South America to drill for oil and turned up missing. So that the father could stay back to run the company, the office manager offered to go look for the son. The idea had been there for a while, simmering, but other projects eclipsed it.
At a writer’s conference, she met another author whose work she greatly admired. This person also greatly admired Elizabeth’s writing and the two became friends, corresponding by letter over the next few years. When they met up again in person at last, Elizabeth asked her friend what she’d been working on.
“I’ve just completed a novel and it’s nearly ready to take to the publisher!” she relayed happily.
“That’s wonderful!” exclaimed Elizabeth. “What’s it about?”
“It’s about an office manager who works for a family-owned Canadian oil company who goes to South America to…” and she continued with nearly the exact plot that Elizabeth had in her mind 2 years earlier.
Elizabeth asked her friend how long she’d had the idea and her friend replied that it came to her around the same time the two women had initially met.
What happened?
We’ll never really know, but I like to think it was an Opportunity Butterfly. It had landed on Elizabeth for a while, but when she didn’t take advantage of it, it flitted over to her friend.
Here’s a personal example.
We’re in the midst of a beautiful spring in Texas. The wildflowers on our land are beautiful and fragrant. I know it won’t last forever, so I’m offering a mini-retreat for you to come enjoy for a couple of hours on Sunday, April 25 from 12:30 to 2:30 PM. It’s your Opportunity Butterfly with a space to get still, connect to nature and yourself, and maybe heal just a little. You’ll find all the details here.
Opportunity Butterflies often come out of nowhere. You can’t predict where they’ll land or how long they’ll stay–a day, a month, a year. They are inviting you to learn to trust yourself more by saying YES. Even if you’re not 100% sure in your head, can’t you feel the YES in your body? Trust that and you’ll gain clarity and build resilience.
What Opportunity Butterflies are flitting in front of you right now?
